The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)
The Impossible Astronaut 'is the first episode of the sixth series of ''Doctor Who. It was written by Steven Moffat, directed by Toby Haynes and featured Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams with Alex Kingston as River Song. Overview To be added Synopsis Receiving a mysterious invite, Amy, Rory and River rendezvous with the Doctor in Utah, who has plans to travel to 1969. However, during a pre-departure picnic at Lake Silencio, a mysterious Astronaut emerges from the lake and, before the eyes of his friends, guns the Doctor down. In the process of mourning him, Amy, Rory and River are suddenly stunned by the arrival of the Doctor, two hundred years younger than the one they just saw murdered. Travelling to 1969 as the future Time Lord had planned, the time travellers look into a terrified little girl and an alien menace no-one can remember. Meanwhile, Amy has something to tell the Doctor... Plot The episode opens in 17th Century England as King Charles II bursts into the room of painter Matilda demanding the location of the Doctor. Matilda feigns ignorance but the Doctor sneezes and gives himself away as Charles lifts up the skirt of the painter's bustle dress to reveal the naked Time Lord hiding beneath it. In Amy and Rory's house in 2011, Amy reads the events of that adventure from a history book and namechecks various other historical accounts where the Doctor was clearly present, such as an unsuccessful break-out of a POW camp in World War II, as if he's trying to get their attention from history. While Rory watches a Laurel and Hardy film (failing to notice the Doctor's presence in that either), Amy receives a TARDIS-blue envelope numbered '3' with a date, time and map reference inside - an invitation from the Doctor. In the Stormcage Containment Facility, River Song also receives a similar letter with the number '2' and breaks out to head to the rendezvous, Utah, North America, 22 April 2011. Upon their arrival, they find the Doctor there waiting for them; on a visit to a nearby diner, the Doctor informs them of a trip he has planned to space in 1969. While they have a picnic on the edge of Lake Silencio, Amy notices a figure concealed by sunlight in the distance but immediately forgets having ever mentioned it when Rory asks. They are interrupted by the arrival of an old man at the far end of the bank that only the Doctor recognises when River notices a strange astronaut emerging from the lake; the Doctor orders his companions that no matter what happens, they stand clear before he goes to meet the figure, who unveils their face to him. As Amy, Rory and River look on, the astronaut fires off three shots into the Doctor and he begins to regenerate. However, as the process begins, the astronaut fires off another shot and the Doctor falls permanently dead. As Amy and Rory search for any sign of life, River attempts to fire off at the astronaut but runs out of ammunition. While Amy sobs over the Doctor's lifeless corpse, the old man approaches and presents a can of gasoline the Doctor instructed him to bring. River understands the inference that his body would be valuable to any malevolent races, alive or dead and that there is only one way to prevent it from happening. Rory directs their attention to a boat and states that if they must take that action, they do it properly. As the sun goes down, the Doctor's body is loaded into the boat and ignited in a funeral pyre that Rory pushes out into the lake. River questions the old man and he presents another of the Doctor's invitations, labeled with the number '4' and gives his name as Canton Everett Delaware III, informing them that he won't see them again but they shall be seeing him. River acknowledges the numbers of the invites as they head back to the diner, Amy still in shock, when they find the envelope labeled '1' on one of the tables. While they try and work out who else he invited, the Doctor himself emerges from the back, pleasantly surprised to see his friends in one place. River tells Amy to ask him his age and he gives it as 909, despite having told them earlier he was 1200, meaning that this is a younger version of the Doctor than the one they watched die on the embankment. After they inform the Doctor of his future self's plan to go to 1969, without letting on who gave the instructions, they return to the TARDIS where Amy tries to convince River and Rory that they can now prevent his death having seen it, but River insists that it's not possible to circumvent events that they were present for. Despite his curiosity, the Doctor decides not to investigate on the summons of someone his friends won't name but Amy convinces him to trust her when she tells him that he has to investigate but can't question why. While they look into Canton Everett Delaware III, he is contacted by President Nixon for a mission that he doesn't trust the FBI to look into it. Called to the White House to speak with the man himself, the Doctor turns on the TARDIS' invisibility cloak and lands silently inside the Oval Office where Nixon plays a taped phone call to a little girl who had been repeatedly calling him and begging for help. When Nixon and Delaware notice the Doctor, security is called into the room and he is restrained but manages to earn some wiggle room when River drops the cloak and makes the TARDIS visible again. The Doctor passes himself and his friends off as special agents on loan from the UK to help him find the child. Delaware manages to persuade Nixon to allow the Doctor five minutes to explain himself. While he searches maps of Florida looking for where the child could have been phoning from, Amy starts feeling nauseous and goes to the restroom. Upon entering, she is confronted by the same figure she'd met in 2011, a tall, slender creature with a bulbous head and small eyes, dressed in a black suit. They are interrupted by another woman in the stall who repeatedly forgets the creature when she turns from it to face Amy; behind her, the creature draws the electricity from the room and fires it at the woman, blowing her apart. Acknowledging that she only remembers while she's seeing it, Amy takes a photo of it on her phone and it orders her to tell the Doctor "what he must know and what he must never know". She runs out of the restroom and back into the path of the agent who escorted her. In the oval office, Nixon gets another call as the Doctor pinpoints where the call is coming from. When he answers, the girl cries out for help, saying that the spaceman has come to eat her. The Doctor, Amy, Rory and River disappear into the TARDIS to intercept with a bewildered Canton in tow. They land a few miles from Cape Kennedy Space Centre, on the corner of Jefferson, Adams and Hamilton (the three names the girl listed in her call to Nixon). While they look for the girl in a disused warehouse strewn with advanced technology while the astronaut watches from the shadows. While Amy ponders the idea of taking out the astronaut in 1969 to prevent the Doctor's death in 2011, River finds a series of cables, coating in organic material leading down a manhole so she goes to investigate and finds a nest of the creatures down there, only to forget she'd seen them when she retreats. While Rory accompanies her on her second look, River finds a sealed door in an underground tunnel system, behind which is a rudimentary time engine. While Rory keeps guard, River uses the logs to discover that the creatures have been concealed beneath the surface of the world for centuries. Before she can look any deeper something advances on Rory from outside. The Doctor, Canton and Amy keep searching above when they hear the little girl cry out for help; Canton runs on ahead while Amy recoils from a pain in her lower abdomen. They follow Canton and find him knocked out; Amy, with the Doctor's attention, finally manages to tell him what she'd been trying to say since they'd arrived - she's pregnant. As the Doctor processes this news, the astronaut emerges from the shadows and, while he focuses on it, Amy lunges for Canton's pistol. As the astronaut lifts it's visor to reveal the girl inside, pleading for help, Amy swings the gun around and notices only too late as she fires on the child inside the suit, looking on in horror... Cast * The Doctor - Matt Smith * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan * Rory - Arthur Darvill * River Song - Alex Kingston * Canton Delaware - Mark Sheppard * Old Canton Delaware - William Morgan Sheppard * The Silent - Marnix Van Den Broeke * President Richard Nixon - Stuart Milligan * Carl - Chuk Iwuji * Phil - Mark Griffin * Little girl - Sydney Wade * Joy - Nancy Baldwin * Prison guard - Kieran O'Connor * Captain Simmons - Adam Napier * Matilda - Henrietta Clemett * Charles - Paul Critoph * Busboy - Emilio Aquino Crew To be added References To be added Story Notes To be added Continuity To be added Home video and audio releases To be added External Links * Official ''The Impossible Astronaut'' page on '''Doctor Who Website